URCHN.ORG

Urchin is a film and animation studio developing a sustainable business practice rooted in free/libre tools and culture. It is perhaps the first studio outside the Blender software’s own to take up the experiment of producing ambitious and costly computer animated films CC-licensed to the public. Using a business model organized around commonwealth, our goal is to explore the versatile medium of animation independent of typical commercial pressures that restrict it to genre. Enhancements we develop to the free/libre and open source software (F/LOSS) toolset and production pipeline support the creation of varied independent works. At the same time, our participatory media encourage literacy in the underlying tools and systems that aid or impede expression to influence how we assemble not only in culture, but as a global society.

Fateh Slavitskaya – Producer
Co-Founder of the Urchin studio and libre media group, Fateh works at the juncture of F/LOSS tools and free culture to explore new modes of animated and live-action filmmaking. She oversees and develops its programs as a creative partner responsible for screenwriting and design. In addition to maintaining Urchin's industrial consultancy, Fateh campaigns on behalf of a variety of free/libre and open source software projects. Her work with Bassam Kurdali has been supported by grants from private donors, the Robeson Fund for Independent Media, the Massachusetts Arts Council, and substantial crowdfunding.

Bassam Kurdali – Creative Director
Bassam is a 3D generalist filmmaker whose 2006 short, Elephants Dream, was the first ‘open movie’. It established the viability of libre tools in a production environment and set precedent by offering its source data under a permissive license for learning, remixing and re-use. His character, ManCandy, began as an easily animatable test bed for rigging experiments. Multiple iterations have been released to the public, and Bassam demonstrates him in the animated tutorial video + short, The ManCandy FAQ. Under the sign of the Urchin, Bassam is continuing to pursue a model of production that invests in commonwealth. He teaches, writes and lectures around the world on open production and free software technique. Raised in Damascus, Bassam trained in the United States as an electrical and software engineer.

THE TUBE OPEN MOVIE

A 3D animated short film based in free/libre software, Tube is also a new experiment in distributed collaboration. It plays on the ancient Gilgamesh poem, in a variant of the hero's progress that becomes the animation's own frames.